Trends in Rates of Myocardial Infarction among Patients with HIV

To the Editor: The use of protease-inhibitor drugs is associated with increased levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and with diabetic diathesis in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). 1 Because these metabolic problems can lead to cardiovascular disease, we examined data from the HIV Outpatient Study (HOPS), which involved a large cohort of HIV-infected outpatients followed at nine HIV clinics in seven U.S. cities: 3247 patients who had taken protease inhibitors for more than six months, and 2425 patients who had not taken protease inhibitors. These patients were followed for a total of 17,712 person-years . . .